Stop…And Think
Entire book will be available for purchase in July.
STOP…AND THINK
“And so I plead with you to give your bodies (soul, body and spirit) to God. Let them be a living and faithful surrender. When you think of what He has done for you- is this too much to ask? Don’t copy the customs and behaviors of this world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do and you will know how good and satisfying His spirit really is.”
Romans 12:1-2
INTRODUCTION
What is it that you think about? Guys, girls, life, love, or the lack thereof? Movies, TV shows, daydreaming that you were on a reality TV show? Life with mom and dad, or life without mom or dad? What is it that goes through your mind? If you are like me, you can have multiple things just pour through your mind at random times. (Often, I wish that noggin of mine would just slow down, ya know?) Other times I am like, “why didn’t I think of that?” The mind is most interesting thing and as they say, a terrible thing to waste.
Where do thoughts come from? How did the thoughts that are in your brain now get there? What is it that forms your thoughts? Your thoughts could have gotten in your head from listening to your parents, having certain friends, loving a certain style of music, or from that freaky movie you watched last week. But all thoughts do have an origin. And thoughts ranging in values come and go at different times.
Have you ever had the idea that there are wrong thoughts to dwell on and right thoughts to dwell on? You probably have. But have you ever considered that thoughts develop patterns of other thoughts? And that what begins to intrigue your mind begins to consume your mind, and then those thoughts develop patterns of actions that turn into lifestyles? And your lifestyle choices effect those around you? Did that hurt your brain? I am sorry, read it over if you have to. I will try my best to keep it simple but true.
Okay, here is the lowest common denominator: Your thoughts come from what goes through your eyes and into your ears. Emotions can stir up thoughts too but even they come from what enters your eyes and ears. We will talk about that one later. I want to help you understand why you think the way you do. Also, I want to help you change the way you think, not just how you look at things. You may ask, “what’s wrong with the way I am thinking now?” That is exactly what I want to show you. Not so much from the perspective of “your thinking is bad”, but rather deepening your understanding on how the mind works and creates lifestyles. Therefore you can provide for yourself a better future through the power of forethought and action plans. Yeah dog!
In this book I hope to explain that you must plan your life by design not live by default. When you are young you set your mind on a course of action. Those thoughts become patterns of life, patterns of life that will stick. I have even read some psychologist that claim a persons personality and who they are to become, is formed by age 3. Going against much research (I’m anti-conventional like that), I say the teen years are the most product forming. Heck, I feel that jr high age and just out of high school are the two most pivotal times of life. Its during the ages of 12-24, in my opinion, that set the course of life. Henceforth (I was waiting to use that word), that is why I wrote a book for specifically that age group. (But all can get a little somethin somethin from it ;).
The big deception is that you can sow your wild oats while you are young and have no ripple effects on your adult life. The reality is you must stop and think when you are young. To do something so simple every day like stopping and thinking, will promote mental and spiritual growth and health! There is a dude in the Bible named Haggai and he told people everywhere in his country to “consider your ways”. The people around him were neglecting doing anything for God, but only working their tails off for themselves. They were chasing the dollar and their efforts were in making themselves important. Sounds like a lot of America huh? Haggai told the governor and the others in high places, and even the priests, “think about how you are living!” Haggai knew you change your course of action by first changing your course of thinking.
And on a larger scale, the patterns of people become patterns of society. And that is another chapter in itself. Your thought patterns will determine your choices, and your choices determine your lifestyle. So how you think becomes who you are and translates into how you live. And I want teens all over this nation to think about that! I want to serve as the modern day Haggai (although I think my name is cooler), and say “consider your ways”, or Stop…And Think.
I also want to prove that there is a way to set positive patterns in motion through the power of stopping and thinking. I want to place a manual in the hands of teens everywhere. Stopping and thinking is the cure for impulsive behavior, which basically dominates adolescence. There is so much stuff to stop and think about that I had to write an entire book on it.
What if that teen stopped and really thought before he pulled that trigger? What if that young girl really stopped to think before she got that abortion? What if he really stopped and thought about it before he swallowed all those pills? What if that young couple really stopped to think about unprotected sex? What if that hurting teen was able to stop and think about not putting mom and dad against each other? What if that young lady could stop to think about her self esteem and how beautiful she really is? What if that guy really stopped and thought about it before he tried his first cigarette? What if that teen stopped to think about God?
See what I mean?
I have the largest flippin’ conviction inside my heart that I have a unique message to send to young people everywhere just like you. This book is not a lecture. It’s not reading that feels like someone is giving you a sermon. It’s just about life. It’s about walking through life and finding strength to do that. It’s so relatable. It’s raw. It has heart and depth. It’s uncensored in a spiritual sense.
We are gonna discuss all kinds of just sick stuff related to the previous paragraphs. Are you ready for a wild ride? Hold on tight and put your thinking cap on, you’ll be glad you did!
Chapter Titles with Summaries for Stop…And Think
Stop…And Think About-
1. The Mental Meltdown
This chapter talks about the desensitization process and dumbing down of American culture, as it relates to a loss of good judgment among teens. What used to be outlawed in pop culture now barely raises an eyebrow. In many ways, the entertainment industry (the stuff that’s in front of us the most) has helped to unravel the moral fiber of everyone from the baby boomers to the millennial’s. This chapter exposes that whole thing for what it is. Teens will come to really see the truth behind 2 Cor 4:4: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
2. The Mental Metamorphosis
This chapter is the antidote for the mental meltdown. Chapter one is the “what” and this one is the “why” and “how”. Mostly, living for the moment characterizes being a teen. Through the power of stopping and thinking we can turn the tide of the “leave God after I leave high school syndrome”. Teens need the tools in their hands to get methodical about today and the rest of their lives. This chapter dives in head first with these topics, and shows teens how to start this process of the mental metamorphosis, or the mental turn around. The words of Haggai in chapter 1:5 echo to us today in a huge way: “consider your ways” or “stop…and think”.
3. Pimp My Mind
The way shows like Pimp My Ride overhaul cars are just flippin’ cool. You might wish they would come to your house and get your ride, huh? Or you could be reading this wishing you just had a ride. On the show, they replace old wheels with 21’s, put a multiple cd changer in, put in DVD’s, digital cameras, 20’ subs in the trunk, etc. But in talking about extreme makeovers, if anything needs to be made over or pimped out, it’s not our cars or homes, it’s our minds! We need to redo and recharge our thinker.
In this day and age of nip and tuck, Dr. 90210, six pack abs and cover models, societal pressures attempt to shape today’s self image of the teen. The fear of fitting in and altering your inside will also be topics of discussion in this chapter. The feelings of self come from what you think of yourself. The views of your person make up your personality and a lack of self worth will transfer into depression, anger, or jealousy. We gotta ingest more of what God says about us then what the world says! I use a plethora of scripture concerning this one. Proverbs says “as a man thinks so is he”.
4. For Freedom Sake!
This chapter expands your outlook and deepens your inlook.
Paul gives us a new way to think and he says the most freeing stuff. He says things like we are “justified by faith”, “be made new in the attitude of your mind”, “keep your mind renewed”, and “think about things above”. He makes mention that a false teacher is not just someone who teaches funky things about who Jesus is, but also someone who puts the Christian back under the law. Too many Christian teens feel like they have to get saved every week. For example: “Justified by faith” means that we are made right with God just because we believe we are, due to what Jesus did on the cross. I break Galatians 5 and Romans 7 down so religion can die and freedom can be released in your mind and heart.
5. Controlling Those Darn Impulses
Impulsive behavior has too much dominance in adolescence. How many pregnancies, abortions, car accidents, transferred STD’s, suicides and broken relationships could have been avoided if they would have just stopped to think? It’s time for real and raw discussion. Rational thought and control over impulses is possible as a teen. I share practical examples and steps to take for implantation in everyday life. We look at some examples from clinical phychology also.
More chapters summaries to follow....
(I just want to keep you coming back)...
In them meantime, post a response back with your thoughts on how chapter one. Has there been a mental meltdown?
You can email me at TrainwithLen@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Monday, November 19, 2007
5 tips on weight management during the holidays:
Surviving the holidays:
5 tips on weight management during the holidays:
Let me start by saying the average holiday turkey dinner with all the trimmings weighs in at about 3,000 calories. And the average person should consume between 2000 to 2500 per day. And it’s reported that 50% of all people gain weight over the holidays, so I want to encourage you to not only avoid weight gain during the next two months, but actually loose weight from now to New Years.
On average it takes a person 6 months (sometimes more) to burn off just what they ate during the previous holiday season. So, if you can learn to manage and restrict weight gain these two months, you have already done 6 months (or more) worth of work for 08! You can learn to manage your weight, even during the holidays. Managing weight during the holidays will take forethought and implementing good planning…
So, without further jargon, here at the 5:
1. Change your thinking for this holiday season.
The typical thinking is that “heck yeah I am gonna eat! That’s what the holidays are made for”. Okay, why? Let me challenge that, you don’t really have to gorge yourself. It’s just our Americanized culture that has put that ideology in us. We have to retrain our thinking before our waistlines are affected. All that “good stuff” will taste good, but put it in terms of how it will make you look and feel. Picture as you eat that pecan pie with ice cream and whip topping, picture that going straight to your love handles. Call it “love handle food”. A good idea is to shift your focus. Instead of the focus being on eating, let it be on a project, giving, volunteering, weekly nature walks, etc.
2. Identify your high risk days and plan to do something active on those specific days.
For example, run the Peachtree marathon in
3. Find healthier recipes for your favorites
Switch to smart balance instead of butter when cooking, move to light beer,
wheat bread and whole grains instead of traditional white rolls, sugar free or organic deserts. Yup, every little bit helps. If you plan to cook with someone, talk to them about how you guys can cook healthier.
4. Avoid starvation before the celebration
Eat something in the morning on your high risk days, get a good healthy breakfast. It will help curb hunger all day long. For example: omelets and English muffins, something light but with good protein and fiber. Most people don’t eat for say… two days before thanksgiving meal to “save up”. The issue is that staving produces binge eating. When you deprive yourself of food, you just wanna eat everything in site. Hence, the 3,000 calories kick in. My mom and my aunts would always smack our hands out of the dinner trays when we tried to sneak some bites, but that is a smart way to go. Eat low fat, low sugar foods before the big meal. Bites of ham, or turkey, low fat yogurt, low fat cheese an hour before will curb the binge eating. Just have to be sneaky when snagging those bites!
5. Get accountable to yourself and another person.
Find somebody that you can talk with and own up to during this season. Those people who usually help you cook, get together before hand and determine that this will be a year of healthy eating. Come up with alternatives. Get accountable to yourself by writing down everything that you eat, keep a daily journal, esp. on your high risk days. Touch base with your accountability partner daily.
There you have it, 5 things to do to not just survive the holiday pounds, but erase some of the ones you may have now!
Good luck! Gobble Gobble…
Friday, November 2, 2007
Change the way you think...
1. Change the Way You Think-
Before you change who you are or who you want to become, you must change the way the way you think. "What was that?" Yeah, you gotta change your mind. "I do that already, too much." Well, I am not talking about being indecisive, I am talking about something a little deeper. Read on.
The way you think. think about this: the thoughts that are in your head now, how did they get there? We are all conditioned by our environment and our own internal devices to think a certain way. For instance, way too many times, and in too many aspects of the life of the average American, we live by default not be design. We just eat fast food and sugary stuff because it's there and it takes good. But that is a default setting, design would say plan your meals out ahead of time- save money and calories- and feel better.
No, I really don't have to eat fast food.
No, I will not quit working out this time.
No. I don't have to have another cigarette.
Yes, I can stick it out.
No, it's not too hard to quit eating sweets.
Yes, I do have time to work out because I will make time. Whatever is most important to you, that is what you will do.
I wrote a book for young adults called stop and think, the premise of the book is that if we can just stop ourselves and think, before we act, before we dive in, before we just go with societal norms, if we stop and think about our lives our values, where we want to be and who we want to be, then life will be much more productive for us and the ones around us.
The most simple definition of the mind is "one's thinking processes". So, your thought processes, how did they get there? What people and events have shaped the way you think?
Think about that. Why? Because it is important for who you become now!
We think of the mind for thoughts and the heart for feelings. The acient
Start to more and more have fitness and nutrition on your mind, put that on the forefront.
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